Monday, October 31, 2016

Sweetie bought a kit to dress up our pumpkin. We bought a small one that's very green on one side. Added the bits. And here is Froggy Pumpkin. It should be the only one like this in the neighborhood when the Halloween beasties come out.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

A long, thin painting (watercolor) on TerraSkin paper. Love the way the color separates, granulates, changes as it dries on this stuff. This is: Life as a Flower

(Life begins so green and fresh, so clean and new...then changes and sometimes there are thorns but look at the end result: hopefully it's beautiful!).

I got up at 7:30 this morning, went downstairs and painted this. Are the migraines over? So far, so good - almost one week without and I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and hope it's not an oncoming train! ha haCloser view so you can see the colors and how they flow.Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Thursday, October 27, 2016

September was a horrid month of migraines which laid me low for days at a time - weeks at a time, really. October = 6 so far and that's good news! Had an MRI and it showed "normal" which is all the report I got about it - 35 minutes in a tube with and without dye injected into me and I get "normal" a one word report?? So asked for a copy of the report the doctor got! Maybe I don't want to know...but that just isn't me. I want to know even if I have to look up the medical terms. I know it irritates some doctors who just want you to agree and move on - take this pill and you'll be fine - or whatever.

Anyway, enough whining. I am painting nothing but small cards so here they are...Pumpkins are everywhere these days - wonder what they do with all those leftover ones in the boxes at the grocery? Have you seen the ones people are carving like our presidential candidates? Scary! ha ha

Some seed pods. These cards are homemade from 5 x 7 bits of Arches or Fabriano 140# coldpress paper. Which means I'll have to find some envelopes for them.

Sunday, October 9, 2016

The other day I looked out my window and saw a sky that could have been painted by Rene Magritte. I looked for the large green apple but didn't see one :)

Magritte seemed to love painting skies - and then putting something surreal into the painting, making us think about what, exactly, he was trying to say or do.

Many of us are familiar with one of his most famous painting, Son of Man, whether we know the name of it, or not. I'm not sure surrealists want you to figure out what they are saying - if anything. Magritte said he covered the man's face so we think about how we always want to see something behind what we actually see. The bowler, which he wore, could be a self-portrait aspect or not. The sea, the stormy sky, who knows??

Hoping your day is NOT surreal. And hoping all along the eastern coast of the US can rebuild and gather their lives back together after Hurricane Matthew. So sad to see the news reports from Haiti where almost 300 died turn into 800+ recorded dead there.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Just another quick one done on TerraSkin paper using watercolors and watercolor ink. Trying to keep my brushes wet in between migraines...18 x 8.5 inches on TerraSkin paperBlue Tree, Yellow SkyHope your month is going well - for me, the weather has turned to cool mornings and nights, misty daybreaks, dew on the grass, the crows have returned and are calling, some weekend hours spent watching the grandkids play soccer, long-sleeved shirts and jackets coming out of the closet, leaves just beginning to tease us with changing colors. I love autumn.

Saturday, October 1, 2016

For the entire month of September, I was fighting migraines - 8 total, which means 16 days in pain. Not plesant. During this month, I learned that I am not capable of dealing with chronic pain without becoming a wimpy woman who cries when she sees puppies, little piglets, sad dogs and cats, kittens, even while watching a program about a wonderful woman who quilted 100 original (no pattern, free style) quilts in her life who was a sharecropper's wife. Yep, made me cry. So my emotions have been put into some kind of blender and are just raw - because of the pain. In between migraines, I painted this. 15 x 5 inches, watercolor and watercolor ink on TerraSkin paper.

Migraines September 2016I am hoping October is a better month. Until then...

I began my journey with watercolor painting in April 2003, taking weekly lessons for six years before I realized I needed to move on to explore on my own.

I admire the work of so many artists; my sidebar is full of artists who inspire me every day. I also love the freedom of Shirley Trevena, the delicate touch of Ted Nuttall and Hazel Soan, and the power of Mary Whyte. I enjoy visiting art blogs, reading art magazines and watching art DVDs to further my art education and to simply enjoy the beauty that is being created around the world in watermedia these days.

"If you have a burning desire to create art, you will lean into the flame of that desire, rather than shy away from it. You may get burned, or you may enjoy the glowing warmth of success. Whatever the outcome, you will not be able to withstand the pull to create something meaningful, beautiful, and lasting."